‘We dodged a bullet’
Prescient fuel tank removal averted potential problem during flooding.
One potential “huge problem” has been avoided in Port Dalhousie, as Lake Ontario water levels continue to rise.
In January, while work was underway by Rankin Construction to build a new pier wall in Port Dalhousie as part of a $573,300 federally-funded project, the yacht club removed its underground fuel storage tank that might have become a concern when the flooding occurred this spring.
“We did an environmental clean up and it’s back filled and approved by TSSA (Technical Standards and Safety Authority) and we are actually changing to an above-ground fuel tank system,” said Dalhousie Yacht Club Commodore Paul Haynes.
The club’s decision to remove the underground tanks, however, was based on concerns about the future cost of removing the tanks, rather than any premonitions about flooding.
“As a board, we looked at the whole scenario and we looked down the road and we said eventually we’re going to have to replace these,” he said.
But if the club chose to remove the tanks 15 years from now, “it would be a very expensive operation.”
Haynes said the club members
We did an environmental clean up and it’s back filled and approved by TSSA (Technical Standards and Safety Authority) and we are actually changing to an above-ground fuel tank system”
considered “every single angle of the pros and cons” of removing the tanks, but “we never even dreamt that there would be a flood situation where these tanks could become buoyant and there could have potentially have been a big problem.”
“We dodged a bullet there,” Haynes said.
“Sometimes you look back and say, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t have spent all that money.’ But we’re glad we spent all that money because we could be facing a huge problem with the fuel tanks.”
Meanwhile, he said most yacht clubs are installing above-ground fuel tanks “because they’re just a lot safer.”
Haynes said the club’s new above-ground fuel tanks have been ordered, but construction of the concrete pad that will support that tank is currently on hold due to the flooding.